Case Number 05909: Small Claims Court

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM F91: THE MOTION PICTURE

The Charge

A new generation, a new war, a new hero.

The Case

Here we go again.

The peaceful space colony Frontier IV is attacked by the mobile suit army of
the Crossbone Vanguard, a fascist political faction bent on gaining control of
the orbiting cities constructed by the Earth Federation. Young Seabook Arno, who
lives with his family on Frontier IV, finds himself an unwilling participant in
the conflict after he is bullied into piloting the Federation Forces' new
prototype mobile suit, the Gundam F91. In order to save his family and friends,
Seabrook is forced to combat the Vanguard threat, even it means fighting his
friend Cecily Fairchild, who is destined to rule Cosmo Babylonia, the empire of
the Crossbone Vanguard.

Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it? Familiar as it may be, though,
Gundam F91 is an enjoyable, reasonably well-executed addition to the
Gundam mythos. It's fast-paced, chockfull of good action and battle scenes, and
doesn't take itself too seriously. That's not to say it's without it share of
flaws, though. The story can be a little choppy at times (this was intended to
be a year-long television series, but the story was cut down to feature film
length), and things can get downright silly at times (the fight between Darth Va
-- whoops, I mean Carozzo Ronah [the helmet threw me] and his daughter is a
little ridiculous), but it's still pretty entertaining. Sure, there's never any
doubt about the story's outcome, but the journey to that outcome isn't a bad
one.

What is bad is the video quality of this release. The non-anamorphic (!)
transfer is riddled with flaws. There's an overabundance of edge enhancement,
stair-stepping, moiré patterns, and motion artifacts; the numerous pans
across star fields look especially bad (the stars appear to be doing jumping
jacks). This was obviously sourced from a theatrical print, as cigarette burns
are visible in the corner of the frame; color balance and saturation are good,
but these are the transfer's only redeeming qualities. The audio fares better,
especially the 5.1 English mix (the film had a brief theatrical run in 2004, and
I'm guessing this was mix was originally created for that run); I'm not a big
fan of dubs, but this track is actually very well-produced, with better than
average voice acting. Surround action is plentiful and enveloping, and there's
enough deep bass activity to wake your neighbors. The two Dolby Surround mixes
are okay, but the fidelity is a little dated, so, as much as it pains me to say
it, you're better off with the dubbed 5.1 mix. Extras include some previews for
other Bandai releases, background information on the characters and hardware, a
Gundam universe timeline, and a commentary. The commentary, which features the
ADR director and two members of the production team, is incredibly boring, and
doesn't really seem to concern this film.

It's too bad Bandai didn't put more effort into this release. I was
extremely disappointed, so I can only image how let down the Gundam faithful
will be.